Multibarrel gun with skewed bore axes



Feb. :10, 1959 H. M. OTTO MULTIBARREL GUN WITH SKEWED BORE AXES FiledAug. 18, 1954 4 1|. a r m R fi m E wu m NE E Each- MU Vmax .fi 4. aw mHW w m United States Patent 2,872,847 MULTIBARREL GUN WITH SKEWED BOREAXES Application August 18, 1954, Serial No. 450,827

6Claims. .(Cl.89--12) This invention relates to a multi-barrel gun ofthe socalled Gatling type wherein a group or cluster of barrels aremounted for rotation as a unit about a common axis generally parallelwith the bore axis of the barrels and wherein all barrels are loaded insuccession at a definite point in their path of rotation andsubsequently fired at a succeeding point as more fully explained in mycopending application serial No. 420,760, filed April 2, 1954, nowPatent No. 2,849,921, for Gatling gun.

Such guns can be built to have a very high sustained rate of fire.Because of the large moment of inertia of the rotating barrel clusterand the high initial acceleration required to bring the cluster quicklyto the high speed necessary for maximum rate of fire, the intial powerrequirements are severe. However, after the gun is up to its normal rateof fire, the power requirements become much less and sustained fire atnormal rates can be maintained with only nominal power expenditure.

It'is therefore the principal object of the invention to provide a gunof the type aforesaid, wherein at least a portion of the power requiredto rotate the barrel cluster is supplied from the explosives beingconsumed in the ammunition fired.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a gun ofthe rotating multi-barrel type wherein a certain and substantialproportion of the power required to rotate the barrel cluster issupplied from the barrels themselves as successively fired, while anauxiliary source of power, such as an electric motor, supplies power asneeded over and above that supplied from the barrels.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a gun of the typementioned wherein the bore axis of the barrels are inclined or skewed"at a small angle to then common axisof rotation so that as each barrelis fired the forces of recoil have a component torque about the commonaxis sufficient for sustained rotation of the cluster.

The arrangement may be visualized by assuming two axially-spacedparallel circles of equal radii, one at the breech ends of the barrelsand one at the muzzle ends,

with the axes of all barrels parallel with each other equi-,

angularly spaced, and with the common axis of the cluster defined by thecenters of the circles. Now, if one of the circles is rotated slightlywith respect to the other through a small angle, say the axes of thebarrels take up the positions contemplated by the invention wherein eachbarrel is skewed in the same direction and at the same angle to thecommon axis of rotation. In this position the component torque will beproportional to the sine of the angle of inclination of the axis of eachbarrel to the common axis and the force of recoil of each barrel willhave a component torque about the common axis, all in the samedirection.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects andadvantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of apreferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a Gatling type gun, the bands ofwhich are skewed;

i'ice Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional detail view to an enlargedscale illustrating the manner'in which the barrelsare mounted forrotation within the gun casing;

. Figure 3 is a front view of the barrel cluster illustrat ing theskewed barrel formation, and

Figure 4, is a section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1 looking in thedirection of the arrows.

' Referring more particularlily to the drawing wherein like referencecharacters designate like or corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views, 1 indicates generally a gun of the rotating barrelcluster type having a cluster 2 rotatably' mounted within a cylindricalcasing 3 and supported therein by a forwardly disposed mounting member 4consisting of a pair of plates 5 and 6 and a series of roller bearings 7journaled on and between the plates 5 and 6 and adapted to ride on theinner forward bearing surface of the cylindrical casing 3. Rearwardlydisposed mounting means are provided for the barrel cluster 2 comprisingaperforated disc 8 within which the breech ends of the barrels arerigidly secured. Bearings 9 normally riding on the rear inner bearingsurface of easing 3 are disposed between the disc 8 and the casing. Acentral axially-extending barrel post 10 completes the barrel bearingassembly and holds the barrels against whip during firing. The barrels 2are skewed with respect to the common axis of rotation of the barrelcluster, as best seen in Figures 3 and 4, and are held in spacedrelation by a spool 11 at their muzzle ends.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that a novel method of providing atorque assistance to a rotating barrel cluster has been provided. Due tothe mounting of the barrel cluster, as a round is fired from each barrelin succession, the recoil forces have a component torque about the axis12 of the cluster which is sulficient to maintain the cluster at thedesired rate of rotation once it has been brought up to speed.

As a result, the separate power means for starting and bringing thecluster up to speed can be smaller and the entire gun can be madelighter and more easily maneuverable.

While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described,various modifications and substitutions of equivalents will occur tothose skilled in the art after a study of the foregoing disclosure.Hence, the disclosure should be taken in an illustrative rather than alimiting sense; and it is the desire and intention to reserve allmodifications within the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a multi-barrel gun, aplurality of gun barrels rigidly connectedfor conjoint rotation about a common central axis, each barrel of saidplurality having its bore axis inclined at a small angle with respect toa plane passing through the base of the barrel and said common axis todiverge in a counterclockwise direction toward its muzzle thereof.

2. In a multi-barrel gun, a plurality of gun barrels rigidly connectedfor conjoint rotation about a common central axis, each barrel of saidplurality having its bore axis inclined at a small angle with respect toa plane passing through the base of the barrel and the common axis todiverge in a counterclockwise direction toward the muzzle thereof, saidbore axis of each said barrel lying in one surface of a respective sideof a regular parallelepiped and with each axis making the same angle toa line forming a right angle with the respective sides of theparallelepiped.

3. In a multi-barrel gun, a plurality of gun barrels rigidly connectedfor conjoint rotation about a common central axis, each said barrel ofsaid plurality having its longitudinal axis skewed in acounter-clockwise direction toward its muzzle end thereof and each saidlongitudinal'axis of 'said'barrels being equidistant from said central'axis throughout its entire length.

4. In a multi-barrel gun, a cluster of gun barrels rigidly connected forconjoint rotation about a common central'axis; the longitudinal axisof'each said barrel in said cluster being inclined in acounter-clockwisedirection towards its muzzle end and through an angleequal with respect to a plane passing through the base of the barrel andsaid central axis.

5-. In a multi-barrel gun including astationary casing and a cluster ofbarrels rigidly mounted for conjoint rotation about a common centralaxis within said casing, each said barrel having its longitudinal axisequidistant from said central axis throughout its entire length andbeing inclined towards its muzzle end'through an equal angle withrespect to-a plane passing through the base of the barrel and saidcommon axis in a counter-clockwise direction.

6. In a multi-barrel gun, a plurality of gun barrels rigidly connectedfor conjoint rotation about a common central axis, the breech and muzzleends thereof lying respectively in a pair of axially-spaced parallelcircles of equal radii, said muzzle ends of said barrels being to tatedin a counter-clockwise direction in its respective circumference throughan angle of substantially 5 with respect to the circumference of thecircle formed by the barrels at the breech end thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED'STATES PATENTS 45,623Natcher Dec. 27, 1864 502,185 Gatling July 25, 1893 594,710 Simpson Nov.30, 1897 598,822 Simpson Feb. 8, 1898

